As Elon Musk devotes more time to politics, he is receiving criticism from one of his investors who claims that he is "not working" at Tesla.
In the incoming administration of Donald Trump, Musk will be in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency, which will be entrusted with reducing the amount of money spent by the federal government by $2 trillion.
In addition, the billionaire is now working on a number of initiatives, including the relocation of his SpaceX headquarters to a new city and the development of transit options for the city of New York.
An investor in Tesla named Ross Gerber, who is also the CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management and drives a Cybertruck, made the following statement: "Having your CEO not working at your company and working at the job of having to fire government employees... as a shareholder, I'm paying someone to not work for my company."
"As a Cybertruck owner with self-driving that sucks and doesn't work, I'm like, 'dude, this isn't fair,"' he added, per Daily Express.
But despite his skepticism, Gerber said he won't stop investing in Musk's businesses.
"I've made a lot of money with Musk," he said. "I'm not in the business of investing based on the popularity of CEOs."
Musk, who was dressed in a tuxedo and black tie, approached the stage at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate immediately after the election with all the swagger of the victorious candidate himself. Trump was the Republican candidate for president.
"The public has given us a mandate that could not be more clear, the clearest mandate. The people have spoken. The people want change," Musk told the audience of Trump's biggest donors, campaign leaders, and appointment seekers. "We are going to shake things up. It's going to be a revolution."
As a result of Musk's close relationship with Trump, an alliance has been formed between the most powerful politician in the United States and the most rich billionaire in the country. According to a recent survey conducted by the Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Center, almost the same number of Americans have favorable opinions of both of these individuals.
As to whether or not this overlap in public opinion is beneficial or detrimental for Trump's politics or Musk's enterprises, experts are divided on the subject. However, it has the potential to have far-reaching repercussions in both settings.
According to The Nation, the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, the social networking platform X, the space technology firm SpaceX, the brain connection company Neuralink, the startup xAI, and the tunneling operator The Boring Co. are the six companies that Musk supervises while continuing to work closely with Trump. Musk's net worth is above $400 billion.
"Even though there's a negative impact, in terms of potentially alienating some of their customers that might not be fans of Trump, the benefits far outweigh any negatives when it comes to having a right-hand seat next to Trump in the White House," said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities.
Business Times has reached out to Elon Musk for additional comments.
